During Tuesday’s court hearing, the judge dropped five felony counts of aggravated child endangerment against both parents. The couple still faces three felony counts.

A police officer testified in court that the couple’s 12-year-old daughter said her two youngest siblings, ages seven and five, were occasionally tied up with their faces and eyes covered with duct tape to keep the demons out.

Adolfo Gomez, 52, and Deborah M. Gomez, 43, were arrested June 13 in a Walmart parking lot in Lawrence, Kan., after a customer saw two children bound with tape. They have been charged with two counts of child abuse and five counts of child endangerment.

During Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, the court learned the couple had sold most of their belongings and left their suburban Chicago home because, “a darkness was coming over the house,” and the house was possessed by demons. Police said the family left Chicago and were headed to Arizona where their oldest son attends college. On their way to Arizona, the Gomez family broke down in Lawrence and were temporarily living in their SUV in the Walmart parking lot.

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At the time of their arrest, police said they were forced to tase Adolfo Gomez three times. His wife, Deborah Gomez, was found shopping inside Walmart. Inside her cart police found a baseball bat, two rolls of duct tape and two tarps.

During the police interview, officers asked Adolfo if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Adolfo, according to police, said he had not used acid in over 30 days and said he had not had any alcohol because his wife threatened to leave him if he did. He also told police he hadn’t slept for nine days.

During the preliminary hearing, the court also learned the couple was regular listeners of Steve Quayle, a conspiracy theorist, who, according to his website, believes the world is coming to an end. In the introduction to his 2003 book, Genetic Armageddon: Todays Technology — Tomorrows Monsters (sic), Quayle says, “It is safe to say that most those reading this book will live to see this terrifying future, and may know the sorrow of seeing loved ones herded into death camps, and of seeing mankind ground into powder under the metal and clawed feet of amoral supermen. This future will make the mass genocide’s of the 20th Century pale by comparison.

The foundation for fulfilling this nightmare are already in place, and as will be detailed in this book, fully entrenched in government and business. There is no “if” to whether or not these things will be put into motion. They are already unfolding and will continue to fruition if not stopped immediately. “

The Gomez’s youngest children, ages 15, 13, 12, 7 and 5, are now protective custody. They will be back in court on Thursday, August 16.